How to Record Internet Radio

Saffron95

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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Nearly all radio stations now broadcast their channel over the Internet as well as over the airwaves. Due to the low price of bandwidth and the high download speeds now attainable, you can listen to your favorite radio station online with no delay; there are many radio stations that broadcast exclusively online. An added benefit of Internet radio is that you can record the broadcasts for later listening. Learning how to record Internet radio is a matter of finding the right software and learning how to use it.

Steps

Ensure that the radio stations in which you are interested have an online broadcast. Nearly all major radio stations will allow live listening on their website. Many smaller radio stations (such as college stations) will also broadcast their channel on their website.

Check to see if the content in which you're interested is available as a podcast. A podcast disseminates broadcasts in an episodic format; however, podcasts are not streamed live. Once the podcast episode is released, you can simply download it using the appropriate software (Apple's iTunes has built-in support for downloading podcasts).

Download software capable of recording (or "ripping") streaming audio. There are many programs available for download that have this capability. Compare software in terms of functionality and cost to determine which one is appropriate for your needs. An important thing to consider is whether the program supports automatic disambiguation - meaning it will automatically split the recording into separate files for each song. If this feature is not included, you will end up with a single large audio file for the entire recording. One easy way to record any online stream is to use VLC. This will work as long as you have a link to the stream. Some popular software available includes RipCast, Freecorder, Replay A/V, and StationRipper. Some of these programs will offer a free trial version that allows limited functionality.

Open the software and capture the audio stream. This process will differ based on the software you use. Some applications actually have a browser that allows you to find and mark your favorite programs for later recording, much like a DVR on a television set. Other programs will simply have a "Record" button that you press after you have manually started streaming the broadcast.

Save the recorded file. Using the software's menus, save the recording on your hard drive. At this point, you will choose the format for saving the audio file (mp3 is a common and highly supported format, for example).

Listen to the recording(s) at your leisure. Once you have saved the files, you can play them using any media player software by double-clicking on them. You can also burn them to CDs using the appropriate software.